


Ever Since You Came, I've Been Living In A Holiday

by mymidsummersunshine



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Vacation, more focus on salads than actual relationships at times, shitpost turned fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:27:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25194640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymidsummersunshine/pseuds/mymidsummersunshine
Summary: Matt, Anders, Sean, Charlie, and Jake spend the All Star bye week together.
Relationships: Anders Bjork/Matt Grzelcyk, Jake DeBrusk/Charlie McAvoy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Ever Since You Came, I've Been Living In A Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> Or, #WhatHappenedInPalmSprings
> 
> Based on when they went to Puerto Rico together, but I've never been there and I have been to Palm Springs so I set it there instead lol. Also based on my own personal adventures from said trip to Palm Springs, a lot of this actually happened to me (minus the romance)
> 
> Title from Holiday by Swimming With Dolphins!

_ It’s only a week, _ Matt keeps telling himself as the plane touches down at LAX.  _ You can do this. _

It wasn’t even supposed to be a hard week to get through. It was just supposed to be him, Sean, Charlie, and Jake, renting a house in warm and sunny Palm Springs, California for the All Star bye week. He can deal with Charlie and Jake being all cute together, that’s nothing new. Plus, with Sean there too, he wouldn’t totally be a third wheel. But then they went ahead and invited Anders, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with Anders, but, well, that’s exactly the problem. He may or may not be a little bit in lo - in  _ like _ with him. He knows he’s not being subtle about it, despite his best efforts, and so the others all know it. Most of their teammates know it. In fact, only one who doesn’t seem to know is Anders himself. And now he’s going to be stuck in the desert with him for an entire week.

Matt grabs his backpack from the overhead bin, then walks down the aisle of the plane to join the others and go to baggage claim, where they’re all happy to see all their suitcases made it. They go to the place to pick up the rental car, then load everything in and head on their way to the two hour drive to the house. They had looked into getting tickets directly into Palm Springs, but since there’s no non-stops from Logan, they had opted to fly into LAX instead. Plus, having the car meant they could go other places if they wanted to; they wouldn’t be stuck within walking distance. 

Sean sits down in the driver’s seat, since he and Matt are technically the only ones who are old enough to drive it, and Anders calls shotgun to choose the playlist. Jake crawls over the backseat into the third row before anyone points out they can fold the seat to make it easier for him, Matt and Charlie settle into the backseat, and they’re on their way.

—

“Oh, man, this place is sick!” Jake says as Sean pulls into the driveway. Matt, who had fallen asleep against the car window, wakes up and looks outside. From what he can see above the fence, it is a nice looking house, just as nice as the pictures online. There’s a small yard on this side of the fence with a nice big tree for shade.

Matt grabs his backpack and gets out of the car, folding his seat down for Jake to get out after him before going to grab his suitcase out of the trunk. Once everything is unloaded they get the keys out of the lock box and unlock the gate.

“Damn,” Charlie says as he walks through. “This is, like, straight out of a 50s vacation ad.” They all nod in agreement.

The first thing they see is the pool and hot tub, which Matt foresees they will be spending most of their time in. There’s a table and chairs set up on the concrete patio next to the front door. It’s unlike any front door Matt has ever seen; it’s completely glass, with all horizontal windows next to it, like a fish tank. He supposes the bushes along the edge of the property provide enough privacy, and he does see curtains inside, they've just been left open.

Sean unlocks the front door for them and they all file inside into the dining area with the coolest light fixture Matt has ever seen; it’s silver with sticks and spheres sticking out in all different directions. The front of the house is all open. To the left is the living room, with a couch and a few chairs, and a large screen TV above the fireplace. On the far side is another set of glass doors to the side yard. The kitchen is on the right, with a door leading back out to the carport. Straight ahead is a doorway to a short hallway in the back of the house where all the bedrooms and bathrooms are.

Jake goes through the hall, then to the right into the master bedroom. “Guess we’re in here, Charlie,” he calls out, dumping his bag on the floor.

“No, wait a minute, hold up,” Sean says. “What makes you think you get the one with the ensuite? You’re the youngest!”

“We’re also the ones who are actually together,” Charlie points out. “Unless two of you guys would rather share a bed?”

Matt feels his ears go red. The truth is he would love to share a bed with Anders. To fall asleep and wake up in his arms -

_ Okay, nope _ , he shakes his head.  _ Stopping that train of thought right there _ .

“Fine.” Sean admits defeat and throws his hands in the air. “But I get the queen bed.” 

Matt looks at Anders, who grins back at him.

“That’s fine, we'll take the twins,” Anders says as he wraps an arm around Matt’s shoulder. “What do you say, roomie?”

Matt decides not to point out that he wasn’t really given a choice in the matter, and instead just goes along with it. “Sounds good to me, roomie.”

They head to the left into the bedroom at the end of the hall with the twin beds. He drops his bag on the far bed and opens it.

“Are we thinking hot tub first?” he asks Anders, who nods.

“That’s what I was thinking, I don’t know about everyone else.”

“Works for me.” Matt fishes through his suitcase until he finds his bathing suit, then heads into the bathroom to change. When he comes out he almost runs into Charlie, who seemed to have the same idea. Jake and Sean are already outside setting it up.

“This place is sweet,” Charlie says, smiling.

“Yeah,” Matt agrees. Charlie nudges his shoulder, then drops his voice to a whisper.

“You gonna be okay for the week?” he asks, tilting his head towards his and Anders’ room.

Matt sighs. He knows his feelings are no secret to the rest of his teammates; he’s not exactly the best at hiding them, but Anders still seems clueless. He’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

“Do I have a choice?”

“I mean, you could tell him.”

“Nope,” Matt shakes his head. “You and I both know that’s not happening. I’ll be fine. It’s just a week, right?” He knows it’s convincing, even  _ he’s _ not convinced, but Charlie takes the hint and drops it anyway.

“We’re here for you, Matt,” he says instead. “All of us. Including him.” He grabs a towel from the linen closet and heads outside to join Jake and Sean. Matt sighs again, then shakes his head and follows him.

—

Sean stands up as he and Jake finish taking the cover off the hot tub. He sees Charlie and Matt talking inside, and judging by the way Matt won’t look him in the eye, he knows exactly what they’re talking about. Suddenly he comes up with an idea.

“Hey, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll bet you twenty bucks Matt and Anders get together by the end of this trip.”

Jake contemplates as he applies his sunscreen. “You mean, like, full-on getting together? Or just like admitting they like each other?”

“Any sort of confession.”

“Alright, you’re on. But it’s gotta be before we leave the driveway on Friday, in the airport or on the way home or something doesn’t count.”

“Deal.” Sean offers his hand, and Jake shakes it. Charlie and Matt join them outside, and Anders follows shortly after. As Sean settles into the corner of the hot tub, he knows he’s going to have fun with this.

—

They stay in the hot tub for a couple hours before they realize they’re starting to get hungry, and they haven’t gone grocery shopping yet, so they all get out and dry off. Sean and Anders are dressed first, so they volunteer to go to the store while everyone else stays behind. Matt decides he’s going to take a nap, leaving Jake and Charlie alone for a while. They’re sitting together on the couch, and Jake is scrolling through Instagram, when Charlie speaks up.

“Hey, what were you and Sean talking about earlier?” he asks.

Jake looks up from his phone. “When?”

“When you were setting up the hot tub.”

“Ohhh. He bet me that the two of them confess before this trip is over,” he explains, pointing toward Matt and Anders’ room. “I have it that they won’t, but honestly, I wouldn’t complain if they did. It’s about time, don’t you think?”

Charlie laughs. “You’re really taking bets on your friends’ feelings, babe?”

“It’s only twenty bucks! It’s not like I can’t afford it.”

“That’s not what I - oh, whatever. Can I get in on this?”

“Absolutely!”

—

It’s barely five minutes after they leave that Sean’s phone vibrates with a text. He’s driving, so Anders looks at it for him.

_ From: Jake  
_ _ Charlie’s in on this too btw, he’s got the travel time for middle ground _

“Who’s it from?” Sean asks.

“Jake. Something about travel time? What does that mean?”

“Oh, nothing, just a little bet we have going.”

“About what?”

“Oh, we have to remember to get s’mores stuff while we’re here, the owner has special marshmallow sticks he said we could use for the fire pit.”

Anders doesn’t like how quickly Sean changed the subject, but he drops it. He pulls into the parking lot and finds a spot near the far end. It’s busier than Anders would have anticipated for a Monday. They grab a cart and head inside, going to the far side of the store to the produce first. That’s where he spots something.

“Bro, look, they have a make your own salad bar!”

Sean laughs at him. “You should make one, then.”

“You know what, I think I will.”

“Alright, you do that, I’ll get started on some of the other stuff and meet you back here.” He takes the cart and leaves. Anders grabs one of the plastic to-go containers and gets to work.

There are a lot of options to choose from, but he has a  _ vision _ . He starts with the lettuce, romaine, then starts adding small piles of any topping he feels drawn to. Carrots, bell peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, cubed ham, even some almonds for Matt because he knows how much he loves them. When he’s done, he has to say, it’s a very nice, artsy looking salad. It will definitely be going up on Instagram later. As promised, Sean shows up a few minutes later, with a cart full of stuff that could not possibly all have been on the list Charlie had sent to them.

“Okay, I’ll admit it, that’s a damn good looking salad,” he says. “I’m impressed.”

“I told you!”

“Alright, I think I got everything else, let’s go check out.”

“You think?! Dude, you could feed the entire team with this.”

Sean throws his hands in the air. “Hey, just don’t want to have to come back. Why go to the store more than once if you don’t need to?”

They make their way back to the front of the store and start unloading the cart onto the conveyor belt. When the cashier rings up the salad, even they point out how nice it looks, causing Sean to laugh at Anders again. They finish paying, load up the car, and start driving back to the house. Sean speaks up once he turns out of the parking lot.

“So, you and Matt are sharing this week,” he says.

Anders turns to look at him. “Yeah, and whose fault is that?”

“I’m just saying, if you wanted to, you know... now is a good time to do it.”

Anders does know, that’s the thing. He knows he’s let his feelings go on far too long to not have done anything about them, but he also doesn’t think he’s ready yet. The moment has to feel just right. But Sean is probably right, now is as good a time as any. Some time this week, anyway, when they don’t have hockey to focus on and distract them.

“I’ll think about it,” is all he says. That seems to satisfy Sean, at least for the time being.

—

“We’re back!” Sean yells as he and Anders walk through the door, each carrying about 7 grocery bags. They’re not about to take a second trip back to the car, they can do it in one.

Charlie stares at them. “How much food did you get?! We can feed a small army with that.”

Sean shrugs. “We got enough for the whole week, why bother going back, you know?” He finds the package of ground beef in one of the bags and moves to a different part of the counter. “Can you guys unload? I’m gonna get the burgers started.”

“Sure.” Charlie stands up from the couch, offering a hand to Jake, who takes it reluctantly. They both go into the kitchen to help Anders. They unpack everything for the freezer and fridge first, and Anders is more than happy to show off his salad again (“even the cashier commented on how pretty it was!”), and if he makes them keep it out so he can take a picture of it like a food blogger, no one questions it. They get everything put away pretty quickly, then sit back down on the couch while Sean goes outside to start the grill. He sticks his head through the door about twenty minutes later.

“Burgers are almost ready, someone wanna wake up Matt?” he says.

Charlie and Jake both look at Anders, who shrugs. “Yeah, I’ll get him.” He stands up and heads over to their bedroom. The door is shut, so he knocks first just in case.

“Matt?” he says. When he doesn’t get a response, he opens it slowly. Sure enough, the lights are out, and Matt is sound asleep, curled up in a little ball on his bed. He looks so peaceful, Anders almost doesn’t want to wake him up, but he knows he needs to. He crosses the room and gently shoves his shoulder. Matt groans, then opens his eyes to look at Anders. It takes Anders a minute of internal panic to remember why he’s there in the first place.

“Dinner’s ready,” he manages to say.

Matt blinks. “Oh. Thanks. I’ll be right out.” He closes his eyes again, and Anders fights the urge to start running his fingers through his hair. That would definitely take some explaining he’s not sure he’s ready to do. Instead, he stands up and walks out of the room to give Matt time to wake up on his own. Charlie, Sean, and Jake are all waiting for him at the table.

“Well?” Sean asks.

“He’s coming, he was sound asleep,” Anders says, taking a burger and a bun off of the plate. He’s a little sad about his beautiful salad being destroyed, if he’s being honest, but hey, food is meant to be eaten.

“You were in there for a while,” Jake smirks.

Anders blushes. “I just woke him up, and he said he’d be right out. That’s it.”

“You’ve gotta tell him eventually, bro.”

He sighs. “Look, you know that feeling when you wake up from a nap and don’t know where you are? That’s where he’s at. I’m not about to profess my love to him when he’s confused like that.” 

_ Fuck. _ He didn’t mean to say “love.” But, none of the others seem surprised.

“But you’d do it if he hadn’t just woken up from a nap?” Sean presses.

“Maybe. I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “Can we talk about something else?”

The bedroom door opens and closes, saving Anders from any more embarrassment, and Matt emerges in the doorway, hair all messed up, looking somehow even more tired than before.

“Morning, Sir Sleeps-A-Lot,” Sean laughs. Matt just glares at him. He sits down next to Charlie, across from Sean and Anders, and makes a plate for himself. Anders is happy to see he does take the almonds. Jake breaks the silence.

“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” he asks.

“I dunno,” Sean says. “Do we want to do Joshua Tree? Or the tram? Or we could just hang out here in the hot tub again.”

“Let me check the weather,” Charlie says, pulling out his phone. “It’s supposed to rain Thursday, but every other day looks good.”

“I’m down for doing Joshua Tree tomorrow,” Anders says. “What do you guys think? Matt?”

Matt looks up at him, not expecting to be addressed directly. He still looks a little out of it, but the food seems to be helping to wake him up. “I’m good with whatever,” he says.

“Then it’s settled. Joshua Tree tomorrow, tram Wednesday maybe?”

“Yeah, we can see how we’re feeling later in the week,” Sean says. Everyone agrees, and carries on eating.

—

They finish dinner and clean up quickly, then decide it’s time for dessert. Matt and Charlie head to the side yard to start up the fire pit while Jake, Sean, and Anders go back to the kitchen to grab the s’mores stuff and metal sticks from the owner. They set up the bag marshmallows on one of the chairs, and the chocolate and graham crackers on another. Anders opens the bag of sticks and stares at them.

“Huh, I thought they’d be longer,” he says as he pulls one out of the bag. It’s only about a foot long. “Guess we’ll have to sit close.”

“Yeah, that’s weird,” Charlie agrees. “The wooden ones you buy at the store are so much longer. We would have had you get some if we had known.”

“Oh, well. Who wants first dibs?”

“I do!” Jake says, taking the stick from Anders and grabbing the first marshmallow.

They all get set up on the outdoor sofa, after moving it closer to the fire pit so they can reach, and talk and laugh and laugh some more as they eat the s’mores. Between the five of them the bag of marshmallows is gone relatively quickly. Surprisingly, only one catches on fire (Sean had claimed to like them burnt, anyway). After a while they start to get a little chilly so they go back inside.

“I didn’t think it was supposed to be cold in the desert,” Jake complains, shivering. Charlie wraps an arm around his shoulder.

“You need a blanket?” he jokes, but Jake nods enthusiastically. Charlie laughs and goes to grab the quilt from their bedroom while Jake sits down on one of the arm chairs. Matt settles down on the couch, only to have Anders sit down right next to him. He only panics a little bit, and only internally, so he’s actually pretty proud of himself. Their shoulders are touching ever so slightly, it would be so easy to just lie his head down...

“Oh my god.” Sean’s voice interrupts Matt’s thought process before he can follow through on that. He can  _ feel _ how red his face is, but he hopes Anders won’t notice, or at least take it as a sunburn and not question it. He looks over to the kitchen where Sean is washing the marshmallow sticks.

“What?” he asks. Charlie comes back with the blanket, eyebrows raised.

Sean doesn’t answer, just turns towards them. He holds out the stick in front of him, then pulls at the end of it. It extends to about four feet long.

They all stare at him, and then each other, before bursting out laughing.

“Oh my god, we’re idiots,” Charlie says. “We moved the whole fucking couch and we didn’t think to extend the sticks?”

“Oh, man,” Matt agrees. “We’re lucky no one else is here to witness this, we’d never hear the end of it.”

“We probably still won’t. You know that’s gonna be the first story Jake tells everyone when we get back.”

“Hey!”

“Guess we’ll just need to do something even more stupid so he rats us out on that instead,” Anders suggests. “We need a better story.”

“I know how a better story can happen,” Sean says, wiggling his eyebrows as he looks between him and Matt. Matt feels his face heat up again, and knows there’s no way he can pull it off as just a sunburn. Either way Anders doesn’t seem to pick up on the hint.

“I know, I’ll hug a cactus,” he says instead.

“Why on earth would you do that?!”

“For the vine,” he grins.

“Anders...” Matt trails off. Anders is smiling at him, and it’s making it hard to concentrate on anything else. “Please don’t hug a cactus,” he says.

“Alright, fine. For you,” he winks, and, alright, Matt thinks he’s doing it on purpose, now.

“I’ll do it,” Jake pipes up. When no one responds, he continues, “really, guys? You’ll stop Anders from hugging a cactus but not me?”

Charlie squeezes his hand. “We just know that you’d do it anyway, whether we try to stop you or not.”

“You know what? I am gonna do it now. Just to prove a point.”

“If you do, I’ll make sure the league knows exactly what caused the ‘upper body injury,’” Sean promises. “Point proven.”

“And then I’ll make sure to tell them whose idea it was,” Jake retorts, looking back at Anders.

“Hey, my idea was for  _ me _ to hug the cactus, you volunteered all on your own!”

They continue arguing for a while, before Matt opts to go to bed early. Despite the amount of naps he’s already taken today, the travel still has him feeling exhausted, and he knows they have a long day planned tomorrow. He wakes up briefly when Anders comes into the room a couple hours later, but other than that, he sleeps soundly through the night.

—

Sean wakes up early the next morning, and quietly slips out of his bed. He changes into his bathing suit, then heads into the kitchen to make himself some coffee. Once it’s ready he goes outside to the hot tub to enjoy the morning quiet for a while. He’s not sure how long it is, his phone is still inside and he forgot to put on his watch, before Matt joins him with his own cup of coffee.

“Morning,” he says as he sits down across from him.

“Morning. I’m surprised you’re up this early,” Sean says.

“I mean, I did go to bed at, like, nine,” he laughs. “I guess all the naps I took yesterday helped me catch up enough, too.”

“True.” Sean takes a sip of his coffee. “How was sleeping in the room with him?”

Matt blushes, but it could also just be the heat from the hot water. “I don’t know, I was asleep.”

“Okay, fair.”

They sit in silence for a few minutes before Matt speaks up again.

“What time are we going to the park?”

Sean shrugs. “Whenever everyone else wakes up, I guess. Anders probably won’t be too much longer, but god only knows when the lovebirds finally went to sleep.”

“What about lovebirds?” Anders says from behind him. He’s holding a mug, but he’s wearing regular clothes, so he just sits down on the edge of the hot tub next to Matt and dangles his feet in.

“Oh, we were just saying that Jake and Charlie are probably gonna sleep in. Matt wanted to know when we were going to the park."

“Oh.” Anders contemplates for a minute. “I say if they’re not up by ten, we wake them up ourselves.”

“What time is it now?”

“About 8:30.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

—

They do end up going to Joshua Tree that day (after having to wake up Jake - Charlie had woken up on his own just in time), and up the tram the following day, and still manage to spend lots of time in the hot tub and the pool back at the house. On their last full day before flying back home, it downpours, which prevents them from doing anything too adventurous. They can’t even go in the hot tub. Most of the day is spent just lounging around inside, packing up anything they won’t need tomorrow, and getting into a heated round of card games. After dinner they all gather in the living room to watch movies for the evening. Jake and Charlie share one of the arm chairs, and Matt ends up in the middle of the sofa between Sean and Anders. 

It’s about halfway through their second movie that Matt can start to feel himself getting sleepy. They’ve stopped talking, now fully focusing on the movie, and Matt takes a moment to glance around. Jake seems to have fallen asleep on Charlie’s shoulder, and, damn, that’s a really good idea, Matt thinks. He looks over at Sean, but he’s leaning away from Matt on the arm of the couch, so he slowly glances up at Anders on his other side. Anders doesn’t seem to notice him staring, which is good, because it means Matt can take a little longer to debate this internally. 

It’s not a matter of if he’s going to fall asleep during this movie, but a matter of when. Of course, he’d love to sleep on Anders’ shoulder, but would Anders want him to? Probably not. He really wishes Sean was a little closer to him so he could sleep on his shoulder instead, no complicated feelings involved, just two guys being pals. But he’s not.

Matt yawns, then makes his decision. He cautiously lowers his head onto Anders’ shoulder. His heart is beating out of his chest, but when he feels Anders rest his head on top of his, he relaxes. It’s comforting in a way that feels familiar, even though it’s completely uncharted territory for him. He adjusts slightly to get more comfortable, then falls asleep easily.

—

Charlie stretches his arms after the second movie, then cracks his neck. He wants to stand up but Jake is still asleep, essentially trapping him. But he really needs some water. Maybe one of the other guys will get him some. He turns around to ask one of them, but stops and smiles at the sight.

Matt is curled up into Anders’ side, head resting on his shoulder, sound asleep. Anders has an arm wrapped around him and is leaning his head on top of Matt’s. He’s awake, as far as Charlie can tell, but he doesn’t notice him looking. Charlie thinks this is worth waking up Jake for. He nudges him slightly.

Jake makes a small noise of complaint, like a cat who gets woken up from an afternoon nap only to find its sunbeam has gone behind a cloud, but Charlie shushes him and points. Jake sleepily looks over to the couch, then looks up at Charlie and smiles.

_ For real? _ he mouths. Charlie nods. He turns back to the couch, trying to figure out how to get Sean’s attention without getting Anders’.

Jake beats him to it by texting him. Thankfully his phone is on silent. Charlie watches as Sean looks down at his phone, brief confusion crossing his face when he sees the contact info before he looks up at them. They both just point to the pair, trying not to giggle. Sean looks over, raises his eyebrows, snorts, then begins typing his reply to Jake.

_ I knew it, you both owe me $20 _

_ They haven’t officially confessed tho, we’ve still got time _

_ Ugh, fine _

Charlie slowly slides out from underneath Jake so he can finally stand up and get his water. He catches Anders’ eye as he walks by and grins at him, only to be given a quiet “shut up” in return. But his flushed cheeks and smile give him away.

“We told you,” Charlie whispers. Anders just shushes him.

—

When Matt wakes up, he feels warm, but in a comfortable way. It takes him a minute to remember why, but when Anders moves his arm to scratch his nose, it all floods back to him. He tenses, and Anders notices immediately.

“Oh, you’re awake,” he whispers. Matt just nods. Anders still has his arm around him, so he can’t be too upset with the situation, but they should also probably talk about it. Now seems like the right time.

“I think I’m going to go to bed, though,” he whispers back.

“Yeah, me too.” Anders lets go of him, allowing Matt to stand up, and quickly follows him. They bid goodnight to the other three, then go brush their teeth before going into their room. Anders shuts the door behind them and sits down on the edge of his bed. Matt sits next to him, and Anders doesn’t stop him.

“So,” Matt starts, but it feels too awkward. There’s probably no good way to start this conversation, so he just decides to go for it. “Okay, so, I, uh, yeah.”  _ Great start. _

“Want me to go first?” Anders asks, and Matt sighs with relief as he nods in agreement. He smiles before continuing. “Okay. Well, I like you a lot, but I guess you’ve figured that out. The reason I didn’t say anything sooner is that I wasn’t sure if you felt the same way, or if I was even ready to. But... but I am now. So yeah.” He shrugs, but Matt can tell he’s still nervous.

“I never thought you felt the same about me,” Matt admits. Anders raises his eyebrows, surprised, but Matt continues before he loses his train of thought. “I guess, I don’t know, I thought I was being obvious about it, not intentionally, but still, everyone else knew, and you didn’t seem to. I thought you were pretending not to know so you wouldn’t hurt my feelings, or something.”

“Matt, I promise you, I didn’t know. I would have said something if I did.”

“Oh.” Matt looks down at his feet. 

“But I know now. And you know about me. So do you want to do this?”

Matt nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” Anders smiles as he wraps an arm around him, and Matt relaxes into his side. He has really comfy shoulders, okay? Sue him.

“Were you really being that obvious about it?” Anders asks after a few minutes.

“I mean, everyone else knew, for sure, so I assumed I was. Apparently I wasn’t.”

“Huh. Well, maybe I’ll notice now.”

“Only maybe?”

“You’re giving me a lot of credit here, but I’ll take it.”

Matt does have to laugh at that.

—

The next morning, while they’re all sitting at the counter eating breakfast, Anders stands up to get himself more coffee, and kisses Matt’s head as he walks by. Sean nearly jumps out of his seat.

“I knew it! Alright, pay up,” he says, turning to Jake and Charlie, who both reluctantly take twenty dollar bills out of their wallets. Matt stares at them in disbelief.

“You all had a bet going about us?!”

“Sure did!” he says, pocketing the money. 

Anders seems to connect the dots. “Is  _ that _ what that was about?”

“Yep. My only regret is that I’m now the official fifth wheel here.”

“You know, you could talk to Danton,” Anders suggests.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because communication works? Clearly?” He reaches across the counter for Matt’s hand to prove his point.

Sean opens and closes his mouth a few times, but finds he can’t really argue with that. He decides to quit while he’s ahead, and carries on eating his cereal as if nothing happened.

“Hey,” Matt whispers to Anders, “I’ll bet you twenty dollars they end up together before the end of the season.”

Anders smiles softly back at him. “You’re on.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come follow me on tumblr @mymidsummersunshine!


End file.
